Yes, Character Counts and Kamala Harris Will be a Strong President Who Works to Unify This Country

There's Nothing New About Trump's Meltdown of the Past Three Weeks

Reading comments on a couple of social media sites, and a message board, it seems that many people seem to be just now waking up to Trump's unhinged ranting and rambling word salad, full of hatred, bigotry, incitements of violence, threats of killing and murder, a narrative that is best characterized by the words "hate-filled insanity."  I've seen comments from news media outlets wondering about this "descent into an abyss" of desperation, which include streams of obscenity and vulgarity, leaving the general impression that "he wants to lose this race."  

This isn't anything new.  This is the Trump who he has always been.  Old age is certainly taking its toll on him, physically and mentally, requiring thicker makeup.  But even in his younger days, this guy was the bully on the school playground, the cheater in the classroom who never got caught, the vulgar, immoral, worldly businessman with the potty mouth and the gimmicks to get around the rules.  He has always been an off-putting, selfish braggart who is incapable of humility. empathy or normal human relationships.  His inability to deal with loss and failure is psychotic.  

Whatever one might think of his niece, Mary's opinion of him, all it takes is a thorough read through of her book and then sitting down and observing his behavior to see that she nails it, and she knows exactly what she is talking about.  I find his television programming to be deliberately insulting and capitalizes on putting people down in order to make money.  That's his bottom line.  He has no leadership skills, he leads by intimidation purchased by money.  Whatever success he has comes from cheating, fraud and lying.  

Unfortunately, when he first started running for President, I didn't take it seriously.  I thought it was a joke, like everything else he touched turned out to be.  I figured he'd be a flash in the pan like usual, and once people realized where things stood, the GOP would throw him on the pile with its other failures, and move on.  I lived in Pennsylvania at the time, and my next door neighbor, in a small community of 250 people, who had served as mayor, a county supervisor, a school board member and was the local chair of the Republican party, was actually the one who made me take Trump more seriously.   A loyal Bush supporter, he was horrified at the prospect that Trump could become the Republican nominee.  

"He'll kill the party," he said.  Turns out he was right.  

Kamala Harris is a Model of Integrity and Leadership Ability 

In spite of all of the rhetoric from the extremist right, and the childish name calling and vulgarity in Trump's insults, there isn't anything about Kamala Harris that even resembles a scandal.  Her middle class background is well documented and well known.  In a state where there's a lot of high quality competition in the legal field, she rose to the top.  She had a remarkable career as a prosecutor, representing the people, with a record that even conservatives must respect.  That gets lost in the rhetoric.  

The fact that a lot of conservatives who lean toward a white supremacist view of American idealism have been critical of her background only affirms that her upbringing is exactly what America is all about, and who we are to the rest of the world.  We are a nation of immigrants, regardless how long it has been since our ancestors came here.  Her parents came here, worked to provide for their family in the atmosphere of freedom that they came here to experience, and build a foundation for their children's success with their own hard work.  Harris is as American as it gets, in a country where the quality of one's character matters more than the color of one's skin.  

Her campaign has not shown any of the vulgarity, the insulting, demeaning attacks, the racism and bigotry or the threats of violence that are characteristic of her opponent's campaign.  I have not seen one fact checker find her to be out of line anywhere.  She's been Vice-President, not President, so criticism of administration "policies" in her name is inaccurate.  Those same critics would not want to credit her with achievements of the current administration, such as the roaring economy, the successful fight against inflation, the fact that there's been no recession as a result of their inflation-fighting strategy and that she will enter office following four straight years of solid economic growth.  

Give credit where credit is due.  

I'm not voting for Harris based on lock step agreement with her politics, though I see very little to which I would object at this point.  I'm voting for her because she has values and exhibits integrity in her conduct that is in vast contrast to her opponent.  She understands American idealism and the Constitution and how constitutional democracy works.  But her campaign has made me believe she cares about Americans like me.  And she picked a running mate who has helped with that impression, since I started my career out as a high school social studies teacher.  

I was raised in an Evangelical church, Southern Baptist to be exact, and in church and in the university and graduate school I attended, both related to the denomination, learned a set of virtues and values based on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I no longer identify as Evangelical, precisely because the use of that term in association with far right wing Republican politics now means a deliberate departure from the Christian gospel, in favor of supporting a political candidate who denies the gospel openly, in order to pursue an agenda by the use of political power.  I would rather have a President in the White House with character, than a corrupt liar.  

Kamala Harris earned my vote.  I hope she has earned the vote of a hundred million other Americans.